Pharmaceuticals

AA Thornton celebrates World Intellectual Property Day 2019 The 26th April is World Intellectual Property Day and this year’s campaign celebrates the role IP rights play in the development of sport for enjoyment worldwide. To mark the occasion, we took a look at a few interesting inventions which are pushing the frontiers of technology to… Read more »

Patent protection of medical devices – time for a rethink? This article was first published by Bio Science Today in March 2019 Introduction The duration of patent protection for medical devices is up to twenty years, as for any other type of device. Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, may be entitled to an extended duration… Read more »

Eli Lilly v Genentech – Warner-Lambert Supreme Court Plausibility Test Applied Following the highly anticipated Supreme Court decision in Warner-Lambert v Generics in relation to plausibility at the end of last year, the UK High Court has recently applied the new plausibility test for the first time in Eli Lilly v Genentech Inc.1 Eli Lilly… Read more »

Reporting on the Queen Mary University’s Life Sciences, Cosmetics and Intellectual Property seminars for CNIPA Consulting Patent Attorney Julie Barrett-Major recently gave two 3-hour seminars at the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) earlier this month on Life Sciences, Cosmetics and Intellectual Property. The two seminars formed part of the QMUL’s programme of education and training… Read more »

The Importance of Intellectual Property Associate Attorney, Christopher Burnett, recently wrote an article ‘The Importance of Intellectual Property’ for East Anglia in Business Magazine, and the full magazine can be read  here.. Chris’s article identifies different IP rights, what they protect and how they are obtained in order to then commercialise them. Below is Chris’s… Read more »

European Commission proposes changes to Supplementary Protection Certificates Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) are an intellectual property right that serve as an extension to a patent right (for up to five years) specific to pharmaceutical and plant products that must undergo extensive testing and clinical trials before being authorised by marketing authorities in Europe. Earlier in 2018,… Read more »

Suzanne Power reports on recent EUIPO Board of Appeal case – Nikken International, Inc. v Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited Trade Mark Associate Suzanne Power recently contributed to the December edition of the Pharmaceutical Trade Mark Group’s Law, Lore & Practice publication. Suzanne reports on a recent decision from the EUIPO’s Board of Appeal regarding preparations used… Read more »

Patenting aerospace medicines – the final frontier? Consulting Attorney, Julie Barrett-Major recently wrote for BioScience Today on the subject of Patenting aerospace medicines. You can find Julie’s article below, or read the full magazine here.  Should you wish to discuss this topic, please contact the author, Julie Barrett-Major, or your usual AA Thornton contact.

Sufficiency and Infringement of Second Medical Use Patents Landmark UK Supreme Court Judgment in Warner Lambert v Generics (Mylan) & Actavis (Pregabalin/Lyrica) The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has now released their long-awaited decision relating to the tests for sufficiency and infringement for second medical use patents, in particular those with so-called “Swiss-form” claims… Read more »

Commenting on the EPO’s AI discussions Partner Mike Jennings attended the EPO’s AI conference on 30 May, commenting:  “The EPO deserves praise for investing in an excellent discussion with industry and members of the judiciary about the future for AI patenting. The 30 May 2018 conference was part of that discussion. The consultation provided a good… Read more »